Saturday, June 04, 2005

Some bits and pieces

1) The League may be undergoing some aesthetic changes. Our content won't change much, except in the usual, organic sort of way as The League's interests flit from place to place. I do predict a decent into critical analysis of adult film by 2009.

The first sign of the change is the banner I made in Photoshop. It's directly above. Check it out.

2) Nathan Cone is considering launching a blog of his own, but he needs a title.

Thus far we have:

Attack of the Cones
Send in the Cones
Mr. Blog!
Nathan's New Groove
Corn!

and... (from Nathan himself)

I like cold water.


You know, Nathan should be able to make just about anything work. He's an interesting guy, he's got an interesting career, his wife is really cool, and when he runs out of material, he's got a kid to discuss. So I totally think Nathan should jump on this blog thing. Vote for your favorite title, Leaguers, and convince Nathan this blogging thing is where it's at.


3) Not so long ago a high school chum of The League resurfaced after several years of absence. Scott Wiser is a part-time musician, part-time film maker, and full-time master of funk.

At my behest, Scott sent along several videos he's worked on. The only downside is that Scott's been pretty busy making videos over the past few years, and so there's a lot to watch. I've only made it part way through the tape he sent. So far I've gleaned that Scott's got a good eye and an interesting, if off-kilter, story telling style that serves him well. And he's not afraid to still insert absurd chase sequences, just as we did in our 1992 collaboration "The Spatulator". A damn fine piece of film, that was.

Anyway, Scott's in a band. Austin Leaguers should seek him out. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the band is called, so, Scott, pipe up and let me know.

4) Next week The League will be on hiatus. The League is going to fabulous Las Vegas for three glorious days of EduComm excitement. If you plan to be in the greater Las Vegas area during this time, The League will be spending his days at EduComm and his evenings alone in a hotel room at Circus Circus eating circus peanuts, drinking malt liquor from the gift shop and watching basic cable.

Mrs. League is not going to Vegas, which sounds like a wacky time for The League. But the League has been associated with Mrs. League for so long that he tends to go a little stir crazy when he doesn't have Mrs. League around to keep him in check.

Anyway, I'm going to try to get a lot of stuff posted for you guys to read next week while I'm out.


5) They closed Bento Bar today. I went there at least once a week every week since I began working here in Arizona. Some weeks I ate there every single day. It's the end of an era.

6) The League un-celebrated his third anniversary in Arizona on the 1st of June. It feels like the winds of change may blow soon. Nothing going on. It's just a gut feeling.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs, 2005 Western Conference Champions!

Great game. Seriously. Fantastic game. Wish the series could have gone on longer so I could have seen another one like that, but, hey... a little rest for San Antonio before the Finals.

Ginobili, Duncan and Parker looked great, and I think the whole team is going to smoke Eastern Conference in the Finals.

The Suns had a fantastic season with the highest number of regular season wins and the highest average scores all season.

One wonder show many players will return to The Suns next season. I hope we get them all back. I think next season will be even better.



Honestly, becoming a Suns fan has made living in the Valley of the Sun a lot more tolerable. It's given me something to enjoy which is directly tied to my local area. And God knows, anything which can improve life in this miserable desert is welcome.

We're not huge baseball fans at The League, so we haven't really taken to the Diamondbacks. We don't understand golf, so we've missed out on the PGA fun which occurs here semi-regularly. And we'd LIKE to know more about the Arizona Cardinals, but since they black out all home games which haven't sold out, we miss half of the games every year.

I've been a Spurs and Rockets fan for years, so I didn't think I'd ever jump ship, and I still don't really think I have. But they show every single Suns game on local TV out here, and after a while, you learn to pull for the hometown squad.

The Suns played great this year, and I'm hoping to get tickets to a few more games next year. We like watching games on TV, but The League has a deep, deep love of shouting at opposing teams from really bad seats.

So here's to a great 2004-2005 season. Let's hope 2005-2006 winds up at least as well.
Nanostalgia.com reviews the ideal of pop music bringing the world together.

The League would like to buy the world a coke.
10 minutes of clips from Batman Begins.
Villains...

It's tough to be a superhero without them. Not impossible, but it makes it tough. And, hey... There are really piles and piles of villains out there. After all, Batman's been kicking it since 1939 and he doesn't fight the Joker in every issue.


Batman's villains get together every week for a supervillain potluck.

In regards to my posting about favorite heroes, brother dearest, The Amazing Steanso, said:

By the way, I think it's a lot more fun to come up with a list of favorite supervillains than heroes (being flawed, they're just more interesting people). Here are three of my all time favorites:

1. The Marauders (from the X-Men's Mutant Massacre)
2. Ras Al Guhl (I understand that he may appear in Batman Begins, but I promise that I'm not just being trendy)
3. Braniac (from Superman)


So some of you guys currently or once read comics. And some of you have seen a superhero type movie or two. or maybe you have a favorite villain who isn't part of the cape and mask set. Maybe it's even Erica Kane. The League does not care.

So... Who do you guys like?

And why? (After all, villains are despicable criminals, aren't they?)


Black Manta, Scarecrow and Luthor enjoy a good larf as an old lady trips while crossing the street. Man, these guys are evil.

Seriously, I'm curious. You tell me who makes you shiver, and I'll do a top 10 list of awesome supervillains or something. I guarantee, it'll put that Villains train wreck on Bravo Network to shame. So sayeth The League.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

So, Congratulations to the Phoenix Suns. They won their first game in the series with the San Antonio Spurs for the Western Conference Championship. Sure they're three games down, but, it was one in the "W" column.

Part of me wishes they hadn't won, despite the fact that I've been following these guys all year long. The Eastern Conference is pretty good this year, and I would have liked to have seen San Antonio have a week to rest before the Finals began. Tim Duncan has been hurting a little bit, and a rest would do them good before facing off against either Detroit OR Miami.

But...

I didn't want to see The Suns get swept. They really are too good a team to just lose it in the Western Conference Championships, and they really were championship level this season. They've played hard, and they've been fun to watch, even when they don't win. Steve Nash took a lot of unnecessary hell for winning the MVP over Shaq this season, and if they'd been swept, I think he would have had a hard time ever shaking off the innuendo.

One quick criticism of the Spurs, which I am sure will draw the ire of mi hermano...

When did the Spurs start flopping every time an opposing player breathed in their direction? I never noticed them doing this a few years ago, but now everytime they get near somebody, they're flat on their back. Horry has really taken to this, but Ginobili and Parker pull their fare share of this maneuver as well.


Nash goes up while Ginobili flops like an Italian soccer player

I've watched enough play-off series to know that, barring an act of God, The Suns are not going to come back and win this series. But I'm glad they woke up long enough to put up a decent fight for at least one game.

Go, Suns!

Monday, May 30, 2005

So The League usually isn't one for beauty pageants, but there's not much else on and I'm trying to just mellow out before what is sure to be a goofy week fo work. And this evening the 2005 Miss Universe Pageant is on. And if you wanted a greater sign that American schools are failing us... I give you the following:

The program was hosted by TV-journalista extraordinaires Nancy O'Dell and Mr. Billy Bush of TV's ACCESS HOLLYWOOD!!!

When the final five were called out, Mr. Billy Bush first announced Miss Mexico. Next up was Ms. Puerto Rico. Ms. Dominican Republic was called third.

Upon calling up Ms. Puerto Rico, Billy Bush announced, "It's a South American dog fight in the final five!"

Then, calling down the fourth contestant, Billy Bush said, "Our first representative from North America, Miss Canada!"

The League writes:

Dear Mr. Billy Bush,

I may have gone to public school and attended a state university, but in those years, I did manage to stay awake long enough to learn a few items. Perhaps you were too busy cultivating your "talent", and could not make time for items such as maps and, say, knowing where shit is, as you studied the romantic history of Tom Cruise and what TV Heart-Throb David Hasselhoff thinks of going to the beach.

But as you are hosting the Miss Universe 2005 pageant, I thought this might come in handy:




On this map, you will see

1) The Dominican Republic
2) Puerto Rico
3) A sort of unpopulated blue patch between these places and South America.

I understand this map might not be very clear. The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are those tricky, smaller land masses called ISLANDS (this is why nobody could find Gilligan. He was on a small land mass surrounded by water).

So here's a picture of Mexico (it's that tiny place just South of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas with a shared border of well over 1000 miles).




The League has been known to have been wrong, so we've turned to the Central Intelligence Agency to tell us a little bit about Mexico, just to make sure I didn't tell you anything that was incorrect.

According to the CIA (as well as The Minutemen currently playing GI Joe a few hours south of my home), Mexico is, in fact, just south of the the United States. Some might say it even shares a continent with the United States.

Here is a picture of South America. You will notice that Mexico, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico do not make an appearance. Not even as an island.




So, Mr. Billy Bush... Next time you agree to go on TV in front of the entire planet, it helps to know where the hell the contestants on your program are from. Especially when you, yourself, are estimating that 1 BILLION people are going to watch the telecast.

Just a helpful tip from your pals at The League.


Mr. Billy Bush brought up the fact that Ms. Canada was representing North America at least one additional time during the telecast. I am proud to say that North America (REAL North America, not those losers from Mr. Billy Bush's SOUTH AMERICA) won the contest. It should also be pointed out that Billy Bush hosted the Miss Universe program from Ecuador in 2004.

And it should also be noted that Miss Universe 2004 was clearly NOT wearing a bra when she came out to hand off her crown to Miss Universe 2005.